France is not Yours to Save
by lovemetrue
Summary: Paris, 1942. During World War II, Eponine is forced to work with Nazis while Enjolras and the Amis do anything they can to free their country. They were not supposed to meet, but when a country is at war anything can happen. Rated T for now.
1. Chapter 1

**AN** : So I had this idea for quite a time now and even though I am not really a writer, I had to write this story. It is very loosely based on the film Black Book (mainly for the parts with Nazis), but it does not follow that story. I like to think that I know a lot of things about WWII, especially the situation in France but it is possible that I make historical mistakes. Anyways, I hope you enjoy it and more chapters are to come !

Disclaimer : I do not own Les Misérables or any of the characters. I don't even own Black Book.

_Paris, october 1942_

The sun was just starting to set and yet her day was just beginning. She walked quickly in the street of Paris, not wanting to be noticed. The sound of her heels on the pavement made her feel self-conscious as the capital was almost deserted. Most people lived in constant fear of doing something wrong that could get them arrested. Life in Paris was not as careless as it used to be right after the Great War. At the time, every single Parisian celebrated victory over Germans, pretending that the four years of war did not happen and that no one had died. Now, France had lost the war and its dignity and was occupied by the Nazis. Germans were imposing their law in her own country, and no one could complain, let alone protest. It was either submit or die. Unfortunately, not complaining did not assure you to live either. Paris was under control of the Nazis and they could do whatever they pleased to do. Including killing. They often had their reasons, or so they said, but if you were behaving a little suspiciously, death could be awaiting you at the next corner.

Eponine Thénardier was exhausted of the war and the occupation. She was wasting her youth. She wanted to do like most of the French : nothing. She wanted to spend her days at home, hoping that maybe someday someone was going to free them. But that was impossible. Her father made it impossible. She was forced to please the Nazis whenever they wished to be pleased. That was for sure the worst job her father had ever given to her (and she had been given a lot) and she felt disgusted with herself for betraying her country and her morals. She just could not refuse. She had to take care of her sister and her brother, no matter the price. It was a tough price though.

The Nazis were no fools and they could see she was a beautiful girl, even if her waist was thinner than most women. But it was war after all and they did not complain. They paid her father good money for her and even offered him extra money if he could slip here and there information about Jews. If only they knew the reason why her father had so much information about the Jews in Paris was because they were Jews themselves, they would already be dead and buried. Her father had some tricks though. She knew that there was no way for the Nazis, or even French police, to discover their true religion.

Sometimes, when she was forced to look into a Nazi's eyes while he was using her body without any shame, she thought about saying it. It was tempting but she always thought about her brother and sister who were also at risk. She could sacrifice her life, her body and mind for them but she needed this sacrifice to be worth it. It was the only reason why she was alive right now.

* * *

He crossed the street looking around him. If someone was following him, they would all be dead in a matter of seconds. He knew his friends did the same, and he was thankful that they at least respected this instruction without questions. He entered the dark café and quickly climbed up the steps. He was already late and he knew that most of his friends would be worried.

"Enjolras, it's you! Where were you? Have you been caught? Tortured? Sent in jail but you managed to escape?" Joly was always the most worried. It was sometimes irritating but he knew he couldn't ask them to risk their lives without some kind of reaction.

"If I had been arrested" he replied calmly "I would not have managed to escape." Maybe it was not the best thing to say to reassure him but it was just the cold hard truth. No need to pretend with them. It would do no good.

"I was not caught," he carried on "I'm just late because I was talking to another leader of a group of resistant. They are very young. Even younger than us and are not organized. I proposed some help but he said he didn't want it. He's going to lead them to their death in no less than a month." Groups of resistant were appearing more and more and although it was a good thing, if the groups were not organized and with some kind of discipline it could be a disaster. Just last month a new born group had been discovered by the Gestapo and it almost endangered other older groups, theirs included.

"Yeah well, don't try to talk to him anymore, it's not worth it." said Combeferre.

Combeferre was wise and more preoccupied with saving their lives than Enjolras. Enjolras supposed he was right most of the time but their duty was to free France and if death was a part of it, he would accept it. He knew however that although all of his friends were aware of the danger and did their part of duty without complaining, most of them were not quite ready to die. Combeferre was one of them and he would always advise Enjolras when the risk was too big and not worth it. Enjolras wanted to fight though. He wanted to free his country from the Nazis and from the dictatorship that was in the south of France.

However, no matter how many new groups were formed they were never enough and the groups never united so they could not do some big action against the Nazis, it would just be a waste of lives. So they waited the orders from London through radio and tried to recruit as many people as they can. This action was not simple because a lot of French were not ashamed of telling the Nazis of suspicious behaviors and they could easily get arrested. Being arrested meant being tortured until you shared with the Gestapo confidential information so that the suffering could stop. Even the most faithful man could not be sure of not telling names under torture. If you were lucky you could use cyanide pills and have a quick death but the Gestapo always tried to prevent that. When the torture was finished you were sent to camps where death was just the next best option. If one member of the group was arrested then the whole group had to live with the fear of being arrested at any seconds.

The Amis, as they called themselves, knew this better than any other groups and were trying to be as cautious as they could. They met every night at the café Musain with just one candle to light the whole room upstairs so that it could quickly be blew off. They all had nicknames and even though they were all close friends, their real name was the one thing that they did not know about each others.

"You know I won't," Enjolras responded to Combeferre "they seem too unconscious anyway." He then changed the subject so that the fate of the other group did not linger too long on his friends' mind and turned to the whole group "We have a big mission for the next week. I learned from London that we were expected to destroy rails just outside of Paris. It is going to be difficult because the rails are often used by the Germans and highly watched." He went on with the details of the operation and the rest of the Amis were listening to their leader, knowing how important the mission was. Fear of death could not get in the way. Freedom was the only thing they could afford to think of, the rest was just too depressing.

_To be continued._

**AN** : I liked the idea of making Joly paranoid about being arrested rather than hypochondriac. Let me know if you absolutely hate it.

Please leave a review to tell me what you thought about my story!

Thanks for reading :)


	2. Chapter 2

**AN** : So I managed to upload quickly, I'm pretty proud ! I don't think I will be able to do the same thing with Chapter 3... But who knows? Anyway thanks to everyone who reviewed, followed, etc. it trully means a lot !

Disclaimer : As shocking as it may be, I do not own Les Misérables.

* * *

She entered the magnificent building with the horrible flag on front of it. She did not look at it nor did she look at any other Nazi sign. She put her coat at the entrance of the greatly lightened room. It truly was one of the most amazing rooms she had ever seen.

It was greatly decorated with gold statutes and the great luster in the middle brought a touch of fairy tale that was destroyed by the uniforms of the people occupying the room. As she entered the room, she revealed a long red dress that matched her lipstick. Her hair was pinned up with a few waves, like most of the women in the room. She was soon given a cigarette that she tried to smoke as seductively as she could. She wore her best fake smile until a drunk German noticed her and gave her the money so that she could do her job.

This time, the Nazi had an imposing figure and already seemed pretty drunk. Maybe she could convince him to drink a few more drinks and get away with it. That was the best that could happen. Her father would never know as her client would not remember anything from the night before and she would still have the money. Yes she would definitely try to do that.

She knew that some women slept with Nazis just so they could get money and food. It was a fair trade: sex for life. Some women even seemed to take pleasure in doing that, after all, worse had been known to happen. But not her. Never her. Even though she was born a Jew and always had to suffer from the discrimination against Jews, she loved France. She was born here and Paris was her home. When she had heard that the Nazis had won the war in 1940 and that the French government was giving up, she truly was devastated. She wanted to continue to fight but as a Jew woman and also the daughter of Thénardier, she had been forbidden to fight. She was forced to starve herself during the day and try to find tricks so that she didn't have to actually sleep with Nazis at night.

The Nazi that paid her for the night, Hank as he said, fell asleep as soon as they entered his room, which was garnished with the best furniture of the period. Probably taken from some Jews. Just the idea of it made her want to throw up. But she did not have time to waste on these kind of things. She just dropped a few drops of her perfume on the pillow so that Hank could believe she had spent the night here and quickly left the room, and the building. She wanted to get home as soon as possible but fate decided otherwise as someone bumped into her.

"I apologize Mademoiselle, I'm in a rush and I did not see you. I hope you are alright." It was the voice of gentleman, she could tell it. But it was also a familiar voice. She quickly took a better look at the gentleman.

"Marius?" She said, overjoyed. God she sounded so pathetic "What are you doing here, the curfew is almost up!" Marius was a guy she had met at the Café she worked in during the day. He always appeared to be in a rush, and frankly a bit clueless but he was also a very nice man with a nice face. She had caught herself dreaming about being in his arms a few times, but she knew he never looked at her this way, even though they had become quite friends.

"Yes God I am very late to meet my friends" he replied.

"As always!" she teased "What are you going to do with them anyway, at this hour of the night? It is not safe." she truly did worry about him. So maybe he was the perfect gentleman and not the kind of guy to seem to cause troubles, but it was war and any suspicious behavior, especially going out late, could end up badly.

"I could ask the same to you. You usually are working at this time!" He of course had no idea of what her second 'job' consisted in but he had asked her a few times to meet her in the evening and she had to make up a job of waitress in a small restaurant to justify her absence. She made sure to describe the worst restaurant so that he would not want to eat there someday. One of her best lie she had to say.

"Yeah, well I had a night off. You still didn't answer me though, where are you going?"

"Well, I can't really tell you…" he noticed her hurt look so quickly tried to justify it "It's not that I don't trust you 'Ponine, you know I do, but..."

"Yeah I know, it's not your secret to tell." She interrupted him. She had asked countless of times and he wouldn't say anything about his whereabouts, still she hoped every time that he would trust her enough to share it with her. She deserved that much.

"Maybe one day you could come with me!" He exclaimed, as if the idea crossed his mind for the first time. It probably did she thought. "It is not my decision though, I will have to ask and you will probably have to meet one of my friends. And that is just the beginning of the procedure."

"Sounds serious." Eponine had long suspected that Marius and his friends met for more than just a couple of beers but she never told him. She was afraid of his reaction and that he would stop hanging out with her.

"Yes, I will talk to our leader and see what he decides" It was risky of course, but he knew Eponine. She was a tough girl and had even admitted to him one day that she had wanted to fight but her family decided otherwise. Maybe the Amis could give her the opportunity. Furthermore, a feminine opinion would do no wrong to them. "I really have to go though," he continued "maybe I will see you tomorrow at the Café!" And with that he waved her goodbye and left her alone with her thoughts.

She didn't know what to feel about being included to his group of friends. Sure, she would be closer to Marius, but they seem to meet a lot and she needed the money from her two jobs and could not afford to give them up. Plus, she knew that the activity of the group was not legal under the Nazi law and her life would be endangered. Not that she really cared, because as a Jew she was already in constant fear of being arrested, but taking action against the Nazis was something else. Life of other people would also be in her hands and she did not know if she was brave enough for it. She put her thoughts aside as she hurried to get back to her poor excuse of a home before the curfew was almost up.

* * *

As Marius entered the Café Musain, all the Amis stopped talking and welcomed him cheerfully. Enjolras was the only one with a cold glare, but then again it was what he usually did too.

"Glad you took the time to honor you with your presence Pontmercy." Marius swallowed. He was late most of the times and when he was not, he was not entirely focused. He had a good reason you see, a woman had entered his life. Cosette was the most beautiful angel, and he could spend hours just thinking about her eyes. Enjolras however, the marble man, did not stand to see Marius this way. They had a mission to save France and no time could be given to romance. Jehan, the poet of the group, always gasped when Enjolras said that but he knew that even if France was not at war, Enjolras would still feel the same way.

"Yes sorry I realize I am late but please carry on." Marius did not want to bother Enjolras and the whole group by asking him right away about Eponine. He would do it when the important subjects were taken care of and Enjolras would be a little less preoccupied about the French situation, if it was possible.

Enjolras continued to discuss the missions that were to come, telling each Ami what they were supposed to do. The meeting lasted two more hours and when everything was said they all stayed until the morning came. They could not go home because the curfew was already up but no one was complaining as they cherished the moments while they lasted. It was the only time of the day, or rather the night, when all the worries about the missions and Nazis were forgotten. They just drank alcohol together, discussing about girls and dreaming about better days.

Marius decided that it was the right moment to talk about Eponine to Enjolras. He knew he had to choose the right words so that Enjolras would not think he was giving away their secrets to anyone.

"Enjolras," he began "are we still looking for people to join us?"

Enjolras looked from the paper he was writing. He was a bit surprised since Marius never talked to him about the war when the meeting was over. "Yes of course we are. Anyone who is ready to save our country would be welcome, that is if they are trust-worthy. Why are you asking? Do you know someone?"

"Actually I do know someone. I don't know if she knows exactly what we are doing but she seems to want to fight and..."

"Wait, 'she'? Marius, don't tell me that you want your conquest to join us." Enjolras was already exasperated that Marius did not listen to him because of her, but she will be an even bigger distraction if she actually came to the meetings.

"No, no." Marius quickly said. "Firstly, don't call Cosette like that, she is not my conquest. If anything, she was the one to conquer my heart." He did not react to Enjolras' rolling eyes. "Secondly I was not talking about her. I have a friend who works at a café near my home and I think she would be perfect to complete the group."

"Our group does not need to be completed," Enjolras replied firmly.

"That's not what you said a few minutes ago."

"We need to be helped but not completed." Enjolras knew he was playing with words but he was really protective over his group. They were quite united and he did not want another person to come and destroy that.

"Yes well, anyways, maybe you should meet her someday and see what she is like. I'm sure you will like her, she has strong opinions and she really hates the Nazis."

Enjolras was not sure of including a woman in their group was the best of the ideas. She would be a distraction to the guys and she might want to soften them. They however, were in desperate need for help and maybe a different point of view would not be so bad.

"I will think about it Marius. Anyway you said that she did not know exactly what we were doing. You need to warn her but do not say too many details. You may trust her but I don't."

"Thank you Enjolras. I will speak with her as soon as possible." Marius was excited. He really thought that Eponine would be perfect for the group and could not wait to tell her Enjolras had almost agreed to meet her.

Enjolras returned to his paper, not wanting to waist any more time. He had a lot of things to take care of and the possible new recruit was not one of them for now. He just hoped that Marius would be careful and not take any stupid risk.

_To be continued._

**AN **: Hope you enjoyed it ! Leave a review to let me know what you think ;)

Untill next time !


	3. Chapter 3

**AN** : Hello everyone ! I want to start by thanking all of you for reading, reviewing, following and favoriting my story ! It really helps me to write so I'm very grateful ! So this chapter is a bit shorter than the last one but it just felt right so I hope you won't kill me for it... Anyway, I'll leave you here with the reading so that you can judge by yourself !

Disclaimer : I do not own Les Misérables. I however, do own a bed so Aaron Tveit is welcome here anytime !

* * *

Her job at the Café de la Gare was pretty boring but she enjoyed it nonetheless. Thankfully, Germans did not like it for some reason, maybe because it was not modern enough, so the majority of her customers were French. Her shift always started in the afternoon since her second job prevented her from working in the morning.

Every afternoon she would begin by washing the dishes of the morning. Then she would welcome the clients that came for a quick coffee after lunch and afterwards, it was quite calm. Some regulars always asked her the same thing, and she complied with her best smile. Sometimes, students would come and enjoy the silence of the Café to study. It was actually how she had met Marius.

He had come and sit by the window. When Eponine realized that he had forgotten to order something, she approached him and they ended up talking for the most part of the afternoon. He was really nice with her and although he seemed pretty rich, he did not act haughty at all like some people did. He was like fresh air for Eponine. She spent most of her life trying to breathe but the air surrounding her was thick and dirty. But when Marius was talking to her again, she was breathing properly. She couldn't believe that a guy like that would spend time with her, but he did and she was more than grateful. He helped her, unconsciously albeit, surviving through poverty and war.

She realized that she had strong feelings for him but she also realized that he would never be able to reciprocate them. Even less now that he had met Cosette. Cosette. She had wanted to hate her, but it truly was impossible as she was one of the nicest people to ever walk the earth. She just hated the fact that Marius was in love with Cosette.

They had met in this Café, in front of Eponine. Cosette had once come here and Marius had not been able to take his eyes off of her. They had talked and since then, they had started dating.

Even though the heartbreak was really tough for Eponine, she was in a way grateful. She could not live forever on the hope that Marius would love her back. She was trying to move on but seeing Marius at least once a week did not make things easy.

Just as she was thinking about him, Marius entered the Café. Eponine was surprised because he usually came sooner to work, but he did say the day before that he might come.

"Eponine," he began as he spotted her behind the counter "how are you?"

"As fine as I can be," she replied. She was never the optimist "how about you? Were your friends mad at you yesterday for being late?"

"No more than the usual," he replied with a smirk. "Is your shift finished soon? I need to talk to you." She supposed it was about meeting his friends. When it came to Marius, she had learned the hard way not to imagine things too fast. The pain that followed was just not bearable.

"Yes, we're closing up in fifteen minutes. Do you want something while you wait?"

"A coffee would be nice, yes." They fell into silence afterwards as she needed to keep working and he did not seem in the mood for small talk. Once the Café was closed, he led her into an alley where they were alone. Even though the neighborhood was not the best of Paris, Eponine felt safe knowing that Marius was with her.

"I'm sorry to bring you here but it is really important and I can't take the risk of being heard." She had never seen Marius being so serious. She decided to just nod and not to interrupt him. He had won her full attention. "You remember I talked about you meeting my friends yesterday?" She nodded again. "I talked to our leader about it and he did not seem to be against having you in our group. I must warn you though. I know that you hate the war, that you hate the Nazis and you even told me once that you had wanted to fight. Well this is it 'Ponine. My friends and I don't meet just to hang out. We meet to fight against the occupation and the injustices of the war. I am not allowed to tell you much about what we actually do but you must understand that if you accept to join us, you could get arrested at any moment and you could also get us arrested. This is really serious Eponine and I want you to be honest with me. We are close friends and I will understand if you want no part in it. But if you don't I will have to ask you not to tell anyone about this. Not even your sister and your brother. If you accept however, you will meet our leader who will see if you can be trusted and when he does, you can officially join us. And of course you can't tell anyone either."

After this speech, Eponine stayed silent for a moment. She could see in Marius' eyes that he really was invested in this cause. But if she did accept, she could not do it for Marius. It was bigger than her, bigger than Marius and bigger than everything she had ever done. She truly did want to fight and that seemed like the perfect opportunity but she still had to think about the responsibilities that she had. Her siblings needed her and her father would kill her, literally, if she ever did something against the Nazis. She didn't want to put Marius and his friends' lives at risk either, with her job with the Nazis. If they ever learnt, she would be considered as a traitor and they would never accept her in their group but if they didn't know, she would be basically sending them all to their deaths if the Nazis found out. She did not know what to do and decided that it was better not to give an answer right away.

"Marius, I truly appreciate the fact that you trust me enough to talk to me about your... activities," she saw Marius shift uncomfortably as he thought she was going to turn him down "but I need to take more time to think about it. As you said, the risks are high and I have a family to think about. I however am truly exhausted with this war and I want to take action against the Nazis. If you would just give me the night to think about it? We could meet tomorrow at the same time and I will tell you my decision."

Marius seemed hesitant about it so she quickly continued. "Rest assured, I will not tell anyone about our conversation and your group of friends. You can trust me, I will bring the secret to my grave." She saw Marius relaxed a bit. She knew that in time of war, even your closest friends could betray you. She had seen it happen. Moreover, she hadn't known Marius for that long so she completely understood that he could be worried about her giving them away.

"Thank you, I know I can trust you with this 'Ponine." She smiled when she heard the nickname. The situation sounded a bit less serious with him using it. "Take your time to think about it," he carried on "but I hope you will accept. You're really smart and I know you will be a great help for us. We can't assure you complete protection but you don't have to tell anyone about your siblings. The less you share about them, the safer they are. I will see you tomorrow then!" And then he was gone.

When she saw her little brother, Gavroche, smiling just before she had to leave for her second job, she realized that she did not want him to grow up with a traitor family and that someone had to be fighting for him and the better life he could have if the Nazis were not oppressing them.

That's why, when she met Marius in the dark alley the day after, she told him with unfaltering eyes:

"I want in."

_ To be continued_

**AN **: As usual, let me know what you think about this chapter, and if you didn't like something !

Next update soon hopefully :)


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